Title Wave: At UFC 172 Rockhold Looks To Wipe Out Boetsch and Coast Into the Middleweight Mix

By Raphael Garcia

Every time a mixed martial artist steps into the cage there is a lot riding on the outcome of the bout. Money, title shots, roster spots, and much more, even wghen that cage isn’t the UFC’s Octagon. So when Luke Rockhold walks onto the UFC stage once again for his third bout since moving over from Strikeforce, even though this isn’t a title fight, the former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion has a lot at stake; he has to pull out a victory to justify the hype that has followed him into the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

GIF courtesy of @ZProphet_MMA

After completing an undefeated campaign in Strikeforce that saw him earn the organization’s middleweight title, Rockhold was welcomed into the UFC with open arms. His fighting style of flashy kicks, high action, and a “finish first” mindset, is exactly what the minds behind the organization would love to get out of their big name stars. Unfortunately for Rockhold, he was stopped in his first contest by Vitor Belfort, but that didn’t dim his star the same way it would have other competitors.

Injury would keep Rockhold out of the Octagon for seven months before he got the opportunity to secure that first UFC win, blowing the doors off of Costas Philippou at UFC Fight Night 35. With that win, his name was quickly inserted into the list of fighters who could potentially become middleweight contenders before 2014 was over, even though he didn’t have the resume of some of other fighters, who had been putting together wins in the Octagon for a longer time. In less than a year, Luke Rockhold has become a fighter that the UFC is looking to build up in short order.

Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch looks to derail that train. Even though he’s a +400 underdog going into this fight, there’s still the fact that he carries the power to suddenly close out a contest. Look back to what he did to Yushin Okami at UFC 144, coming from behind to steal that fight. However, Boetsch was one of the aforementioned fighters on the UFC roster that didn’t receive the same type of “push” as the California native. Even when he put together a four-fight win streak from 2011-2012, there were not many people clamoring for Boetsch to fight then-champ Anderson Silva. Two losses later, he found himself in the role of a forgotten man within the division. Now he has the chance to play the spoiler once again, like he did against Hector Lombard at UFC 149. With a win he will steal some of the attention that Rockhold will bring into Baltimore on Saturday.

With so many of the UFC’s big name stars away from competition, this is Rockhold’s chance to step into the spotlight. He’s already displayed a penchant for hyping up a fight – examples include his verbal battles with Michael Bisping and his outspoken stance against Vitor Belfort’s TRT usage. Along with that gift of gab, Rockhold is good-looking, with a face that the camera could fall in love with. And along with that, he has the skill set to capture the attention spans of the fans that the UFC hopes to entice. A highlight reel win over Boetsch would catapult him into a position to become the UFC’s next big darling.

A degree of stardom in today’s MMA world is just one punch, kick, knee, or big finish away for most of the fighters on the UFC’s payroll. Luke Rockhold has everything that the company looks for in fighters that eventually become stars for the promotion. And Tim Boetsch is positioned as either a stumbling block or a steppingstone in Rockhold’s path towards becoming the next big name in the middleweight division.